Nutritious Salad Recipes

Cooking Light is working with the Partnership for a Healthier America and USDA’s MyPlate to give anyone looking for healthier options access to thousands of recipes that will help them create healthy, tasty plates. For more information about creating a healthy plate, visit ChooseMyPlate.gov.

Southwestern Cobb Salad

Covered in a sweet and spicy homemade vinaigrette dressing, our take on a traditional Cobb salad is overflowing with protein and delicious veggies like avocado, green onions, and tomato for a well-rounded dinner salad.

Roast Chicken Salad with Peaches, Goat Cheese, and Pecans

Fresh peaches and goat cheese headline this simple no-cook salad recipe. The 8-ingredient vinaigrette, made with pantry staples, takes just minutes to make and is a delicious complement to the other salad ingredients.

Pork, Pineapple, and Anaheim Chile Salad with Avocado

In a colorful mixture of flavors and textures, this pork salad features a mixture of grilled, spiced pork tenderloin combined with pineapple, bell pepper, chile, and avocado. The mixture is served in lettuce leaves and topped with a tangy vinaigrette.

Broccoli Carpaccio with Broccoli Stalk Salad

This side dish makes great use of broccoli stalks in a riff on carpaccio, which is traditionally a dish of thinly sliced raw meat. A standout salad, this recipe won us over at the taste-testing table, earning our highest rating. You can use a mandoline to make easy work of slicing the broccoli thinly and evenly.

Pan-Grilled Thai Tuna Salad

This grilled tuna-topped salad serves two and goes perfectly with a side of crunchy rice cakes for a lighter dinner option. Prepare a refreshing dessert like coconut sorbet and diced mango to follow the spicy salad.

Winter Salad with Roasted Beets and Citrus Reduction Dressing

This ultimate starter salad celebrates the produce of the winter season and makes a knockout-gorgeous addition to your table. Use fresh orange juice, multicolored beets, and creamy goat cheese for this exquisite appetizer.

Shrimp and Herb Salad

Summer Bean Salad

If you purchase whole fava bean pods, you'll need to shell them and then peel the beans: Blanch shelled beans in boiling water for a few seconds, remove to a bowl of ice water, drain, and slip off the opaque skins. You can also substitute shelled edamame.

Tequila Slaw with Lime and Cilantro

Grab a bag of packaged coleslaw mix, and you've saved yourself the time of slicing cabbage and shredding carrots. A splash of tequila adds spirit and complexity (we urge you not to leave it out), while lime juice's zing perks up earthy cabbage. Serve on tacos, alongside barbecue chicken, with grilled flank or skirt steak, or with (or on) burgers.

Smoked Chicken Cobb Salad with Avocado Dressing

Grilled Chicken Thighs with Thai Basil Salad

A mix of Thai basil and sweet basil makes for a satisfying aromatic salad with no lettuce "filler." Cucumber and shallots offer a bit of crunch. If you can't find Thai basil, use whichever variety you can find. Look for explosively hot Thai chiles at Asian markets, or use serranos.

Couscous Salad with Chicken, Dates, and Walnuts

This dish is a cinch to prepare, and you can make it your own using fresh mint instead of cilantro, or almonds or hazelnuts instead of walnuts. Also try it with chicken breast or pork tenderloin in place of chicken thighs. Dates add a delicious Mediterranean touch, yielding a lovely sweet-savory flavor balance; for more tang, substitute dried apricots.

Spicy Basil-Beef Salad

If regular Italian–or Genovese–basil is all you can find, it'll work fine. However, it's worth searching out a few varieties, such as purple, Thai, or lemon basil. Using a mix of varieties improves the salad by adding visual interest and nuanced flavors. If you can't find hanger steak, substitute flank instead.

Asian Chicken Salad

Prosciutto, Peach, and Sweet Lettuce Salad

Serve this light main-course salad with a hunk of crusty baguette and a glass of chilled Riesling. Choose ripe, juicy peaches, and leave the peel on for more texture. Ricotta salata is a milky, mild, slightly salty cheese that’s easy to crumble; you can substitute feta or goat cheese.

Mexican Broiled Corn Salad

The broiler offers a fantastic way to give food the taste of fire, yet it's perhaps the most overlooked way of cooking. Here it brings alive the flavors of late-fall corn and peppers so they taste as good as at summer's peak. To help control the intense heat of a broiler, move foods closer to or farther away from the element--not just up or down the oven racks but also toward or away from the sides.

Cherry and Sunflower Seed Kale Salad

Perfect for a light lunch or side, this Cherry and Sunflower Seed salad features a homemade honey-mustard vinaigrette. The dried cherries and sunflower seeds give the kale an extra crunch with a sweet and salty finish.

Spicy Bean and Quinoa Salad with "Mole" Vinaigrette

To make ahead, leave out the greens and keep the quinoa mixture covered in the refrigerator up to two days. Add spinach just before serving. To tame the heat, seed the chile or substitute chopped red bell pepper.